Title: Trophic interactions and their implications for soil carbon fluxes
Abstract: Trophic interactions, the consumption of one organism, or a part of it, by another, are a fundamental component of all ecosystems. The vast majority of net primary productivity is eventually consumed, either by herbivores if the tissue is still alive, or by decomposers if the tissue has died (e.g. Cebrian, 2004). Similarly, these primary consumers are themselves consumed either by predators, parasites or decomposers (secondary consumers). Thus, trophic interactions form the pathways through which carbon flows through an ecosystem and, to a large extent, these interactions control ecosystem carbon dynamics, either directly (via consumption of another organism) or indirectly (e.g. altering competition between the prey individual/population and other organisms).
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-01-07
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 8
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